Why did the shirt, jacket and tie become the international standard dress code for business and governments?
In: 510
It was an adaptation of the morning dress and ascot worn by the wealthy classes in Europe and America since the late 19th century. This in turn was driven by earlier fashion trends originating from European nobility and land owners.
Like today, if you did not dress formally, others would assume you were not wealthy and therefore your business was not prosperous so they would not be willing to conduct business with you themselves.
Over the years fashion has driven change, ties became thinner, fewer people wore hats, newer materials and manufacturing methods have also driven change to styles.
Fashion and business leading cities such as Milan, London and Paris drove the adaptations, and other countries wanted the fashions that were sold in these cities and therefore would follow the designs they created and import or simply manufacturer their own.
It’s worth noting, in some cultures this was not immediately the case. Some countries did not want to trade with western countries that had established this as the style for business. Others were slow to take up the fashion trends, particularly East and Southern Asian countries. It was only in 1912 that Chinese official adopted “Western” formal attire, however many still wore their changshan maguas for decades after. To this day, some countries in the Middle East for example, it is often not the case to see business leaders wear suits but many still wear a thawb.
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